Cobalt The Unicorn
Cobalt-Wing1.png|Brown-Shirt Era Cobalt-Formal-fix.png|Black Coat Era RefCobaltSize.png|His Size in Relation to Other Ponies Cobalt3D-Wing.png|3D Render Cocalt Chibi.png|Chibi Cobalt IQpwHMHl.jpg.png|Princess Cobalt The self-proclaimed cheif mechanic of Ponyville, Cobalt is a unicorn that works in an unnamed workshop just south of Ponyville. Known for his attention to detail in his craft and his breadth in technological know-how, he continues to learn techniques from other characters to better understand what one could do with a lump of coal, an iron ingot, and the risk of heatstroke. Appearance Cobalt is physically very large in appearance, as tall as Big Macintosh, though not quite as built. He has an orange coat, similar to Bronze. His mane is brassy in color, containing Steel blue highlights. It is usually neatly kept in a flattened pompadour and always is partially under his prized black hat. His tail bears the same colors, broad and cut short, with the primary color surrounding a single blue highlight. His eyes are turquoise and of typical pony fashion. Cobalt has a habit of wearing clothes, usually a thin, brown work shirt and black metal bands around his hooves, which he calls hoofguards. He will also wear Cobalt blue sweatbands on his upper legs or a black suit jacket with a steel blue necktie. The ends of the jacket sleeves have a modified version of the hoofguards made to look like cuffs, complete with a small, gold cufflink embedded in them. Personality Brown-Shirt Era Cobalt was known for being an upbeat and easily ready to help anypony in need. He always bore a kind smile on his face whenever approached, offering his skills in machinery to anyone who might need them. He was always fascinated with flight and would spend a lot of his spare time designing and perfecting an artificial pair of wings to allow him to fly, despite his size and relative weight. Cobalt carried with him a generous and kind spirit, becoming a pacifist and not hurting a single pony if it can be helped around the end of this period. Black-Coat Era The black coat Cobalt wears came around a transition period in his personality. After a few large incidents of him being taken advantage of, paired along with his rise in power, he has developed a disdain for most ponies he met. His smile washed away in favor of a half-lidded, business stare, with little expression coming upon his face at any given time. His fascination with flight withered away, though he does occasionally don the latest version of the wings he eventually created successfully. Cobalt's love for his talent has become an obsession, turning him into a workaholic and causing him to search out commissions and jobs from other ponies, charging cheaply and never accepting a tip, claiming it was "charity" to him. While he continues to help ponies in need, he does it out of principle instead of genuine kindness. This era is the current one. History Foalhood Cobalt claims to have been born outside of Equestria entirely, naming a place called Mexicolt which is south of the Macintosh Hills and the San Palomino Desert. He was raised as a foal in a small town in the mountains, both of his parents wheat and corn farmers. After hearing about the opportunities in Apploosa to grow wheat for pies, his family immediately moved there while Cobalt was barely going into grade school. While he did not experience much of his native country, he considers himself a Mexicoltian at heart, and takes pride in it. He grew up in Apploosa, learning how to use the farm tools to keep the wheat healthy. However, he become much more interested in improving the tools he was given, tinkering with the shape and sharpening them. As it so happened, a small, broken down motorized carriage gathered dust in the edge of town, apparently having been sold to some richer residents there without mentioning its need for fuel. Cobalt ran to it each day and looked at a new part of the carriage, moving a lever or pulling a rod, finding out how the mechanism was supposed to run. Eventually, with nothing but his imagination and a few makeshift tools made out of trowels, he began to tune the carriage up. In a few years time, the carriage was in great condition. Cobalt poured some combustible fuel he made out of fermented corn (which apparently didn't sell too well in Equestria) and put a spark into a hole by the steering wheel, which he assumed was the ignition. The carriage comes to life, the engine puttering and coughing as it awoke. The loud noise startled the residents of Apploosa, but none more so than Cobalt himself. He jerked away reflexively at the sudden noise, breaking his horn clean off from his head. A colt with a broken horn, fortunately, had the possibility of regrowing it, and such was the case with Cobalt. Later on, when he discovered the noise was the machine working, he managed to earn his cutie mark. AdolescenceCategory:Unicorn After earning his cutiemark, Cobalt started to volunteer at Apploosa's humble train station, learning from some of the older staff on how to repair and maintain a steam engine to usable condition. As he matured, he found that work in Apploosa was growing sparse. Few trains came around, most of them being freight trains that distribute apples from Apploosa to all over Equestria and beyond. His formal education in the schools around Apploosa has also left little for him to admire, the only class he took interest in being Mathematics, Chemistry, and Prench. On the last few years of school, Cobalt dropped out and decided to pursue his own education, taking a few personal belongings, including his father's black hat and his grandfather's heirloom guitar (despite not knowing how to play any instrument at the time), and hopping on one of the apple trains and riding it along to its destination in Dodge City. From there, he found a few more steam engine technicians, picking up skills and techniques that he didn't learn previously. As soon as he earned enough money to keep going, Cobalt bid the staff goodbye and hopped on another train. This continued for years, allowing Cobalt to travel Equestria and sharpen his skills. Eventually, he found himself standing in front of Grand Central Station in Manehattan. He walked up and asked to work as a new technician there, demonstrating the wide array of lessons he learned. At first, he was rejected for not having a diploma of any formal education, and was dismissed from the station. Distraught, Cobalt looked for an adult school in the city to earn himself a diploma. Early Adulthood (Pre-Ponyville) Cobalt managed to find an adult school and finish his education there, taking accelerated courses to earn his diploma as soon as he could, working as a janitor in Grand Central Station to scrape up enough money to live on. However, once he was nearing the end of his courses, he heard about a higher education in Electrical Engineering, a skill that he has not yet learned anything about. While the technology was relatively new, Manehattan ran on electricity already, the subway system dependent on it. He spent another year pushing himself and taking those courses, using the diploma to work as an assistant at the station he so wanted to be part of. At one point, while learning how to use magic in combination with electricity, a shot of high-voltage power struck his horn, causing it to nearly explode. This permanently damaged his horn to a near unusable state, only allowing basic levitation and a single "trace" spell that is related to his education. Despite essentially having to move to an earth pony education, Cobalt kept his spirits high. Finally, his studying and dedication paid off with a degree in Electrical Engineering, allowing him to get his job as a technician, with a bit of persistence. Cobalt worked here for a few years with little incident before coming to a conclusion: he hated Manehattan. Something about the huge city just didn't sit right with him, with all the crowded streets and on-the-clock lifestyle. Around the same time, he caught wind that there was a job on laying new tracks for new railroads. Attracted by the idea that industrialism can spread to other parts of Equestria, and after 3 years of dedicated service, he quit his job in Grand Central Station. Soon after, he started working on the railroads themselves, fixing up the paths that have shaped him up to the stallion he became. This work lead him to discover Ponyville, a quiet town smack in the middle of Equestria, just south of Canterlot, and not a single mechanically-inclined pony to speak of. Early Adulthood (Ponyville) Ponyville was quiet and relaxed, not run by the commands of greedy corporations, as he found in Manehattan. The town had plenty of space for new residents on the outskirts, which worked just as well for Cobalt. He inquired for a position in the train station to work as their head mechanic, in case any of the trains that passed by ever had an emergency. His cutie mark was all he needed to get the position, and using the money he had saved up over the years from Grand Central Station, he bought himself a plot of land south of Ponyville beside a river, which happened to lead right into the Everfree Forest. With his wage in Ponyville Station, Cobalt thought up plans for his home, drawing up ideas and hiring crew to teach him how to make them into an intelligible blueprint. At this point, he started to venture out into Ponyville and meet a few friends, among them his soon-to-be co-workers, Alum and Tungsten, a grey crystal pegasus and a indigo earth pony, respectively. The trio became the Industrial Trinity in Ponyville Station, each one specializing in certain details that made them the go-to ponies for repair for a while. However, their partnership was short lived when Tungsten took an interest in masonry, and Alum became homesick. In only a few short months, the Trinity was broken up. They have yet to successfully reunite. Abilities and Equipment * Basic Levitation: Despite being a unicorn, the continuous fractures to his horn and the constant regrowth has reduced his magic power. His horn can levitate lightweight objects, but will struggle with maintaining a large or heavy object aloft. Cobalt makes up for this with his own physical strength, lifting with his hooves in conjunction with his magic. * Prosthetic Wings (Mk. VII): The seventh revision of his original design, these removable, lightweight wings allow Cobalt to fly through the air like a pegasus. These wings have been built as a proof of concept of cross-species augmentations. The only fully reliable model, the Mk VII can hold enough fuel to keep Cobalt flying for about 30 minutes. As a failsafe, the wings will lock into a glider position should it run out of fuel or otherwise be incapacitated. This particular model can only be controlled by unicorn magic. * Hammerspace Hat: Originally an inside joke among his peers. Cobalt's hat was rumored to hold almost any tool or item Cobalt needed inside it, similar to 'hammerspace' in cartoons. While originally Cobalt simply kept a small toolset taped on the inside of his hat, he has since developed a material that will compress items to fit inside it. His hat is lined on the inside of this material, allowing him to keep an extended toolset in there, as well as maybe a curious cat. * Hoofguards: His front and hind hooves are adorned with bands of thick tungsten carbide. Their strength allows him to stick his hooves in otherwise potentially dangerous environments where there is a significant crushing hazard. Their weight will really add up in his kicks as well. * Texas Tin-Shot: A shot-based coilgun with a magazine made of his own ivory. After a series of attacks on his workshop, Cobalt has finally developed for himself a firearm. The coilgun carries a battery pack and capacitors onboard, firing flak consisting of scrap metal.With each shot, the ivory that makes up the gun's magazine is stimulated, giving the scrap fired the ability to teleport back upon contact with more metal (or hemoglobin in blood). The piece of scrap will teleport back into the magazine in addition with whatever amount of metal immediately surrounds it. Relationships and Friendships Family * Aurum: An android he found in a junkyard, Cobalt restored the centuries-old Aurum after a decade's deactivation and raised her as a daughter. Their familiar relationship turned sour when an accident caused Aurum to lose most of her memory before Cobalt's restoration. She blames Cobalt for the accident and has left since. * Ferra: Cobalt's second and self-made android. Based off of Aurum's design and borrowing a lot of her personality from backups of her "older sister", Ferra is a grey android earth pony with rust colored mane. It identifies as female (as Aurum did) and has been raised by Cobalt all her life. Her AI was modified and tweaked until it can learn on its own shortly before Ferra went out to live amongst the rest of Ponyville as per Cobalt's request. While she has not visited, her code is still being transmitted to Cobalt to be researched. Allegedly, she now lives in Manehattan. Relationships * Katherine: His first relationship was with a steampunk-inspired pegasus with prosthetic wings, that of which led to Cobalt's inspiration for the cross-breed augmentation. Their relationship gradually deteriorated as they saw less of each other until they stopped seeing each other at all. As far as Cobalt knows, they may still be together. * Sorring Heart: A short lived relationship between Cobalt and a member of High Heavens, his own instability culled the relationship's advance shortly after it began. Friends * Jeff Faust: Cobalt became friends with Jeff, talking to him and helping him deal with his Lycanthropy. * Reetah Faust: His friendship with Reetah started shortly after the reconstruction of Medic's Hospital. They have shared many a drink together, and their friendship led to Cobalt meeting Sorring. * Medic: A crazed, sadistic german war medic, Medic is only known by his title. their friendship was kindled over Cobalt's knowledge over medical technology and Medic's own work. A mutual interest over the other's research has led them both to become friends as well as coworkers in some situations. * Klona: An anthropomorphic mammal, Klona and Cobalt have had a modest friendship. * Aerial Ace: Cobalt provided a father figure for Aerial Ace, as well as a master figure in the time that Aerial was converted into a pokemon known as Aveon. Their friendship is rocky, at best, but has recently begun to show signs of improvement. * Wanya: This quirky earth pony has been both a pleasure and headache for Cobalt to meet. Her TARDIS and other time-lord machinations have been enough to pique Cobalt's interest for many days at a time. Her bubbly personality has not had as positive effect on Cobalt. * Silver Bullet: While originally a male, Cobalt has only known Silver Bullet exclusively as female. For all he knows, she's always been a she. His gunsmithing has been of much use to Silver. * Darklight: His persistence in Cobalt's workshop is remarkable. However, their friendship together was lacking in content, being created at the peak of Cobalt's Black Coat period. That One Bastard * Toby: A thorn in his side, Toby seemed to idolize Cobalt more than he idolized himself. His massive ego, rather impractical tech, and an irrational obsession with the dark arts have led Cobalt to despize this character in whatever form he comes in. Trivia * Cobalt was originally a ponified version of an anthropomorphic dog named Pancho. However, due to character development, Cobalt became his own distinct character. * The Texas Tin-Shot is functionally identical to the Widowmaker, a shotgun for the engineer class in the game Team Fortress 2. * Cobalt's concept name was Steelhooves, before being renamed to Cobalt on account of his blue accents. Coincidentally, this was also the name of the owner of Ponyville Roleplay at the time Cobalt was introduced. The two quickly became business partners. * Despite Cobalt's name coming from his blue accents, the blue used is actually Steel Blue, an influence his concept name had in his design. * Cobalt's hoofguards are a reference to his concept name. * Despite being born in Mexicolt, visiting Mexicolt frequently, and considering his nationality Mexicoltian, Cobalt has no idea what the Mexicoltian national anthem is. * Cobalt was still illiterate when he got his cutie mark. * Cobalt has a strong interest in music, knowing how to play the guitar, piano, and accordion. He does not, however, know any musical works, opting to make up songs on his own. * Cobalt once arm-wrestled with Big Macintosh over a show of strength. Both of them claim that they won. * His favorite color is Orange. Category:Pony Category:Unicorn